Top 10 Home-Grown Current New York Sports Icons

This slideshow represents the Top 10 current home-grown players in New York area sports and contains players who were drafted or signed by their current team and spent their entire career with that team.

New York sports fans attach themselves with their homegrown sports talents a little more because being in the biggest city in the world allows the local teams to spend more money on free agents and focus less on developing their own players as much as a small-market team would.

9: Osi Umenyiora - New York Giants

The Giants struck gold with Osi Umenyiora near the end of the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft.

Umenyiora has had two excellent seasons in New York, one of which happened to end with a ring on his finger, during the 2007 season when the Giants defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Over the first two seasons of his career, Osi had eight sacks and 78 tackles to show for it over the course of 29 games.

The following season, he exploded onto the scene, tallying 14.5 total sacks with 71 tackles and four forced fumbles.

After this performance, the Giants rewarded him with a six-year, $41 million extension.

His 2006 season came up short, when he missed six games in the middle of the season due to an injury.

During the 2007 Super Bowl winning campaign, Osi reached the quarterback 13 times, while making 52 tackles and forcing five fumbles.

He also set a Giants franchise record by recording six sacks against the Philadelphia Eagles, contributing to an NFL record-tying performance of 12 sacks by the entirety of the New York Giants defense.

He missed the 2008 season due to a preseason injury when he suffered cartilage damage in his left knee and was forced to go under the knife for season-ending surgery.

Throughout his six-year career, Umenyiora has made a name for himself as part of a strong defensive front that the New York Giants put out every Sunday.

His 41.5 career sacks, 232 tackles, 14 forced fumbles and two defensive touchdowns in 72 games clearly gives him a spot on this list as one of the great home-grown players this city has produced who is still playing.

3: Mariano Rivera - New York Yankees

(Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Mariano Rivera is arguably the best closer in MLB history. The 39-year old signed on with the Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1990 at just 20 years old.

The team called up Rivera from the minors and tried him out as a starting pitcher in 1995, but mixed results pushed Rivera to the bullpen, where he became a fixture as the team's setup man during the 1996 World Championship-winning season.

After taking over for John Wetteland as the closer for the pinstripes in 1997, Rivera has not looked back.

Rivera is widely considered to be the best relief pitcher in postseason history, pitching in 76 games while recording 34 saves and an outstanding 0.77 ERA in 117.1 innings.

Hall of Fame closer Dennis Eckersley on Rivera: "The best ever, no doubt."

Trevor Hoffman: "He will go down as the best reliever in the game in history."

ESPN's Buster Olney: "No other player can instill calm in his team's fans as reliably as Mariano Rivera, the game's dominant closer and arguably the best relief pitcher of all time."

Rivera currently sits second on the all-time saves list, behind former Padres closer Trevor Hoffman with 482 saves and a career 2.29 ERA.

Without doubt, Rivera is one of the best home-grown talents this city has ever seen and is still going as strong as ever at 39 years old.

2: Martin Brodeur - New Jersey Devils

Martin Brodeur is arguably the best goalie the NHL has ever seen. He was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the first-round of the 1990 NHL Draft.

The 36-year old netminder has is the only goalie in NHL history with seven 40+ win seasons.

He is also four-time Vezina Trophy winner (recognized as the league's best goaltender), a four-time Jennings Trophy winner, a ten-time NHL All Star, and a Calder Memorial Trophy winner.

Earlier this month, Brodeur became the NHL's all-time winningest goalie, surpassing Patrick Roy with the 551st win of his career.

Brodeur has led the New Jersey Devils to the playoffs all but one time during the course of his 16-year career, and has led the team to three Stanley Cup championships.
When the time comes, Brodeur is undoubtedly a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He is also one of the most recognizable names in New York sports.